S. M. Dubey, Social mobility among the professions: study of the professions in a transitional Indian city, Bombay, Popular Prakashan, 1975

« This was a pioneering work on the sociology of professions in India based on a study of three hundred members of six professions (Free professionals : lawyers and medical doctors ; Salaried professionals : Civil and Railways officials, engineers and overseers, doctors (in service), university teachers, college teachers, bank managers ; Semi-professionals : journalists) from Gorakhpur, in Uttar Pradesh. The extent of mobility in three generations and its causes and consequences have been examined in terms of the major variables of occupation, education, income, caste and family.

In his analysis S. M. Dubey covers a wide range of topics, such as the theoretical framework of class, status, mobility and professions; the nature of the transitional city, the growth of professions and their social composition and nature of physical, educational, occupational and psychic mobility among the professions. The author has maintained a good balance between the stratification concepts and approaches that are fashionable among the Western sociologists and the unique forces and conditions that influence the structure of the Indian society.

At the final phase of the study, the author touches upon some of the basic issues of stratification. He believes that in their formulation, the functional and conflict theorists of stratification as well as the liberal democracies and communist societies have equally fragmented the ideas of equality which needs a careful treatment in its totality.

The members of the professions are modern elites of India; a study of their growth and mobility is, therefore, of the highest importance for understanding the direction of social change in India. »

S. M. Dubey was Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology and Centre for Sociological Study of the Frontier Region at the University of Dibrugarh. He was a product of the Department of Sociology, University of Lucknow. He had been previously lecturing to the Post Graduate students at the University of Gorakhpur since 1959. He was awarded the Doctorate by the University of Gorakhpur, in 1967, on his work ‘Socialmobility among the professions in a city in Transition’ which was considered as the first major and systematic work on the Sociology of Mobility and Professions in India. The present book, is the revised version of his Ph.D. thesis. He joined the University of Dibrugarh in September 1968 and later on has been elected V. C. of the University.

Arundhati Virmani, A National Flag for India, New Delhi, Permanent Black, 2008

“Unearthing the complex history of the making of the Indian national flag, Arundhati Virmani reveals cultural processes that imposed a set of values and sentiments on an incredibly diverse and scattered body of people. She shows that the Indian flag had strong roots in the ethos of colonialism. It was a major resource for the nationalist movement, a tool that allowed large social diversities to assert the compelling necessity for a new political culture with secular nationalism as the unifying pole. This viewpoint was contested by the Muslim League, the Sikhs, the Indian princes, and Hindu nationalists. So how, in the end, did the Indian flag come to fly as it does today? And how, in contrast, was the flag of Pakistan created?”

« The long and difficult elaboration of the Indian national flag, the diverse and sometimes contrary expectations that built up around this object during half a century with their stakes profoundly rooted in the social world: these essential aspects of the historian’s work are masterfully unravelled in this book. » Jacques Revel, Historian, EHESS, Paris

“Work, social stratification, ethnic group, men-women relations, etc…all the aspects of Chinese society since 1949 are examined in this highly original work, that blends together the fields of history and sociology for a better understanding of Chinese society and how she arrived to such modernity – unique in its practical details ?”

“This book evaluates the recent phenomenon of Information technology communication (ICT) development in India, and discusses such questions as: Can the growth be sustained? How far can an ICT revolution go towards modernising India’s economy? What could be the capacity of ICTs to induce rapid social transformation and change? Can India navigate all the pitfalls and hazards and retain its current comparative advantage in the field of ICT?

– Provide a systematic overview of the major developments and trends in the Indian ICT sector;

– Investigates the dynamism of the IT sector and whether it has contributed to wealth creation in any significant measure; and whether Bangalore, in its area of special strength-software-is a dynamic leader or merely a Silicon Valley follower;

– Assess the role of the State and of government policy, especially with regard to the opportunities for shaping the future of this sector;

– Explore the processes of the restructuring of work and employment in the wake of the IT revolution;

– Set the Indian experience in a wider context through a discussion of the Chinese experience, along with a comparative analysis of ICT clusters in the two countries.”

“This book is the first of its kind in putting together the optimistic voices of techno-idealists, critical social science perspectives on technology and a range of empirical material on the impacts of ICTs on the lives of people via its diffusion in the urban and rural spaces of work, consumption, e-governance and the new kinds of social identities it has fostered in India.

This volume views the diffusion of ICTs in India primarily from the socio-cultural realm. It provides an empirical and theoretical critique of some of the important premises that undergird these initiatives and brings together the voices of innovators in the ICT for development domain. It opens up an entire arena for dialogue between activists, technocrats, bureaucrats and academia on using ICTs to deliver development.”

“How can America’s information technology (IT) industry predict serious labor shortages while at the same time laying off tens of thousands of employees annually? The answer is the industry’s flexible labor management system–a flexibility widely regarded as the modus operandi of global capitalism today. Global « Body Shopping » explores how flexibility and uncertainty in the IT labor market are constructed and sustained through concrete human actions.

Drawing on in-depth field research in southern India and in Australia, and folding an ethnography into a political economy examination, Xiang Biao offers a richly detailed analysis of the India-based global labor management practice known as « body shopping. » In this practice, a group of consultants–body shops–in different countries works together to recruit IT workers. Body shops then farm out workers to clients as project-based labor; and upon a project’s completion they either place the workers with a different client or « bench » them to await the next placement. Thus, labor is managed globally to serve volatile capital movement.

Underpinning this practice are unequal socioeconomic relations on multiple levels. While wealth in the New Economy is created in an increasingly abstract manner, everyday realities–stock markets in New York, benched IT workers in Sydney, dowries in Hyderabad, and women and children in Indian villages–sustain this flexibility.”

Payal Malik and P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan, Trends in Public and Private Investments in ICT R&D in India, European Commission, Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2011

Executive Summary

« The Indian Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry is contributing to the national economy in many ways and almost all states in India are targeting the sector as a vehicle for economic development. NASSCOM’s 2009 strategic report estimates that the Indian IT-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry achieved revenues of USD 71.7 billion in FY2009, of which the IT software and services industry accounted for USD 60 billion. Direct employment at the end of March 2009 was expected to reach nearly 2.23 million, while indirect job creation was estimated to touch 8 million. The sector’s revenues grew from 1.2% of national GDP in FY1998 to an estimated 5.8% in FY2009. The net value added by this sector to the economy was estimated at 3.5-4.1% for FY2009.

The Indian ICT sector has evolved in three phases: up to 1984, 1984–1990 and post-1990. In the first phase, apart from trying to establish its own technological trajectories, the state attempted to run the industry which resulted in no commercial sector. In this phase, there was no great differentiation between software and hardware. In the second phase, the government realized that software was a viable option for income generation and technological capability enhancement. In the third phase, the software export industry blossomed, aggressively promoted by both national and sub-national governments. Consequently, the export-driven growth model ignored the hardware sector and domestic sector, despite their huge potential. Though the ICT sector is growing in all domains, it is predominantly driven by software services and telecom services.

Until the 1990s, the Indian economy was under state control and there was little incentive for private industry to invest in R&D. The Indian ICT sector is dominated by the larger players with the top 200 firms contributing about 86% of the total revenues in 2008. Multinational firms dominate in the innovation space through their Indian R&D centres. Although larger Indian firms perform R&D activities, they are sub-contractors and do not have ownership of their activities. An analysis of secondary data showed that most of the multinational firms follow the conventional outsourcing model: they enter India as a cost centre which then evolves into a technology centre.

At present, the ICT sector is clustered in six cities: Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, the National Capital Region (Noida, Delhi and Gurgaon) and Mumbai. However, efforts are being made by the central and state governments to spread the sector to second-tier cities. A comparison of the major ICT clusters shows that the Bangalore cluster presents a more mature eco-system for the ICT industry compared to the other clusters. Due to its historical lead advantages, it has a deep labour market, proximity to well-known research institutes, government research labs, the presence of venture capital, and a healthy mix of large domestic firms, multinationals and other supplementary firms.

Hardware manufacturing is weak with some innovation happening in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Poor manufacturing capabilities and lack of adequate support infrastructure will continue to put the Indian ICT industry at a disadvantage to competitive producers like China, Taiwan and Korea.

University-industry alliances are much to be desired, but they are limited to campus placement and student internships. The labour pool with engineering or ICT-related education is impressive in terms of numbers, but a closer look reveals a poor research component.

Though Indian firms are expanding their global reach and technology domains in service through acquisitions, it is difficult to conclude that R&D capabilities have been acquired. Indian firms continue to cater to western clients through software product development or engineering services, and they innovate for in-house consumption rather than developing off the-shelf products for the open market.

Since the Indian ICT sector concentrates on services, innovation is predominantly on processes. This service innovation can be observed in other areas:

• Transition from on-site to off-shore, by sending people for project execution at the client’s site to executing and managing projects in India;

• Productised services, in which Indian firms standardise the services provided to clients and sell them as productised services, a level below off-the-shelf products;

• Virtual extension, in which Indian firms serve as sub-contractors but interact with primary clients directly;

• Human capital capacity building, because though human capital is available, skill gaps are met by the sector itself.

• Finally, service process innovation is crucial in explaining the success of the Indian telecom sector. Tailored tariff packages in line with the affordability profiles of Indians and also outsourced network expansion were the first of their kind and have yet to become a global trend. »

The South Asian Diaspora and especially the Indian-American community in the United States of America have received more academic attention during the last decade. The remarkably good education of this group, its quick economic success, and its perceived interior unity have made it not only a “model minority” as far as its adaptation into the socioeconomic environment of the U.S. is concerned, but also a more and more active and visible player in cultural and political affairs of the host country. Consequently, the last years have seen a couple of in-depth studies of certain parts of the community. Most if not all of these works, however, have focused on Hindu and, in part, Sikh immigrants to the United States. The large number of Indian Muslims that have come to America has widely been ignored. Aminah Mohammad-Arif’s study attempts to fill this gap of in-depth knowledge and is, therefore, from its mere intention alone of great value.

Although the author has conducted interviews with members of the Indian Muslim community all over the U.S., the main focus of her work is the New York metropolitan area. This region has been the setting of different other studies of the Indian-American community such as, for example, the books by Johanna Lessinger (1995) and Madhulika S. Khandelwal (2002) and provides, hence, a well-tested ground for academic research. In contrast to other works Mohammad-Arif concentrates on a special group within the community, a minority’s minority, and, thereby, obviously breaks with the myth of a uniform Indian-American origin, culture, or identity.

The book is divided into four parts. The first main section, “From the Indian Subcontinent to America”, starts with a chapter on the historical development of Islam in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Here, Mohammad-Arif describes the different Muslim traditions of Sunni, Shi’a, and Ahmadiyya in South Asia, thereby laying the foundation necessary for an understanding of intra-community dynamics in the United States. Since the South Asian Muslims in the U.S. represent a “microcosm of the Muslim population of the subcontinent” (p. 19), a short introduction to their original internal divisions is not only helpful, but essential. The second chapter focuses on the economic and demographic profile of the South Asian immigrant community in the United States. Besides a brief historical description, this section offers insights into issues like “Marriage and divorce” (p. 39ff) or “Ethnic business” (p. 42ff). Unfortunately, the statistics presented do rely heavily on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population, which renders several numbers obsolete. Nevertheless, this chapter proves to be very informative, especially because of the personal views presented in numerous interviews.

The second main part of Mohammad-Arif’s work deals with the process of adaptation to the new environment. The first chapter of this section concentrates on the role and importance of religion and religious practices for the South Asian Muslim community. Here, Mohammad-Arif successfully links theoretical aspects of religiosity to the specific framework of Islam and to the day-to-day performance of religious duties by the members of the community. She also includes many controversial issues such as the Muslim diet (p. 63ff) or the oftentimes questioned obligation of Muslim women to wear the veil (p. 66ff). These critical points of South Asian Muslim religiosity are described in context of their relation not only to the host society but also to Islam in general, since many features of Islam on the Indian subcontinent show remarkable differences to their Arab or African counterparts. In the following chapter, Mohammad-Arif explores the problems and challenges for the second generation members of the community. Their “’masala’ identity” (p. 84) between the religious, cultural, and social traditions of their parents and the everyday struggle for acceptance in school and work life is of prime importance to the community as a whole and certainly deserves the attention the author has devoted to it.

The third part of the book, “Redefining Islam”, investigates Islamic institutions and movements in the United States and their relations and adaptations to the host society. On the institutional side, Mohammad-Arif works with many well-researched and very informative, although possibly not necessarily representative, case studies of different mosques, Islamic centers, and Islamic schools. As for Islamic movements, she thoroughly describes two of the most important groups, namely the “Muslim Student Association (MSA)” and the “Islamic Circle of North America (INCA)”. These and other transnational operating movements and associations, as Mohammad-Arif clearly shows, do reflect the high degree of organization a well-educated immigrant group like the South Asian population can achieve (p. 189ff). The concluding part exclusively deals with the relationships of the South Asian Muslim community with others. In the first chapter of this section, the author returns to the idea of an immigrant community being a microcosm, but applies this concept to the whole Muslim world. According to Mohammad-Arif, the United States might see the “emergence of a ‘utopian umma’” (p. 193) reflecting an aspired unified Islam despite the internal diversity of the Muslim population in the U.S. Recent trends suggest the possible forming of a “pan-Islamic melting pot” (p. 206), a development that is fostered by the growing use of modern communication technology. The following chapter explores the oftentimes difficult relations between South Asian Muslims and Hindus in the light of events like the Ayodhya crisis (p. 214ff) and assesses the possibilities of a common South Asian identity. In the last chapter of this section, Mohammad-Arif turns to questions of integration into the host society, dealing with matters of mutual perception as well as with stereotypes and mechanism of discrimination. Hereby, she also touches on lobbying efforts by the community in order to raise awareness and acceptance, a point that seems to be becoming more and more important and may encourage further research. The book closes with a summarizing conclusion that reconstructs the main lines of argumentation in a straight manner.

Since the original, French version of this book was published in 2000, the consequences of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have not been included in the main body of the work. Because of the prime importance of the challenges posed by this tragic event to the South Asian Muslim community, the author has added an afterword, written in February 2002. Here, Mohammad-Arif reflects on the immediate impact the terrorist strikes had on the community and discusses some of the first implications. The book also contains a glossary of the most important terms and an extensive bibliography. The statistical appendix is, at least in part, outdated, which is largely due to the fact that the South Asian Diaspora in the United States is one of the fastest growing and dynamically changing ethnic groups in the U.S.

Overall, Salaam America provides a valuable and readable source of information on a subject that has not received much attention yet. Aminah Mohammad-Arif has very successfully combined a thorough analysis of the South Asian Muslim population with indepth interviews of individual members of this community that convincingly support the author’s arguments. The relatively narrow regional scope proves to be advantageous to the focus of the assessment. Nevertheless, future research may also include more information on the large Indian-American Muslim communities in California, Texas, and Illinois.

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